Better
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
Some sections are still being researched2 / 4
Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Better (better.com) is a New York-based digital mortgage lender founded in 2016 by Vishal Garg (originally as Better Mortgage). It set out to make home financing 'better' by moving the whole mortgage process online: fully digital loan applications, personalized rate quotes in seconds, pre-approval in minutes, and in-house loan officers who earn no commission - a deliberate break from the industry's incentive to upsell. Beyond mortgages it expanded into real estate services, title insurance and homeowners insurance. Backed by SoftBank, it funded $24.2 billion in mortgage originations in 2020. In December 2021 it fired 900 employees over a viral Zoom call - a moment that made CEO Vishal Garg briefly infamous. The company went public in August 2023 via a SPAC merger with Aurora Acquisition Corp.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Better was founded.
- Acquisition
Better was acquired.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN / AFTERMATH
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.